The Path that Leads
by seta.masters
Summary: Through City Elves and Dalish Elves, through the Oldest parts of Elvhen History. Follow Mordred the half-elf as he grows up to find his place in the world, unwittingly shouldering the burden of ancient magic but hopefully he can find some familiar faces and even some new ones on his journey to discover something Arcane.
1. Chapter 1: What I Wanted

Chapter 1: What I Wanted

I always thought my story was an unremarkable one, I used to sneak out from the Denerim Alienage and sneak into the castle library. No one in the alienage knew how to write or read, I taught myself by sneaking into the castle again and again but no one knew or they would probably tell me I was suited to the life of an Antivan Crow if I was lucky but that's not where my heart lie. I used to sneak in just to read the stories, stories from centuries past, stories of the Hero and how he lead the world to victory over the blight, Hard in Hightown, I've always wanted to meet Mr. Tethras. I made corrections to history books, leaving notes where the stories seemed to leave out massive gaps but one day my reading style changed.

As usual the Alienage Orphans would come round to torment me, as I still had a mother they would take out their frustrations, throws rocks, cover me in mud, you know the drill. But one day, it glowed. I was a mage, a light lit in my life that day as the I felt the raw power surge through my veins but every around me looked afraid, far more afraid then I'd seen them around any other mage, as the glow in my hand grew to a dagger, a small blade of light in my hand. No one in my alienage, nay in Denerim had seen anything like it before but I knew what it wanted. It wanted me to fight.

From that day on, the people shunned me. Not that the other Elves in the Alienage were friendly already. All I needed was my Mother, a loving and kind woman despite that had happen to her. See she was raped by a Human lord when she was barely a teenager, and the result of that Rape was me. I am what the Elves call, _Amorgal_ or _Child Born of a Beast_ as the ancient elves had few words for Shem during their time, it also seemed to affect my Vallaslin as I seemed to only trail under my right eye. And usually Amorgal was followed by the usual " _Let the Dread Wolf take you_ ", eventually they just said it enough to be shortened. So they call me Mordred, not my real name of course but I prefer it, my real name is like the Elven equivalent of John. So common it might as well be forgettable.

But yes, I am Mordred and this is the tale of how I used to sneak into the Denerim castle and learn magic. The castle library was a small, piddle thing and the guards never seemed to be around enough for them to catch me. I Learned and I Learned till each time the sun rose in the morning but I think I was good enough, my favourite was Lightning magic even if I nearly alerted the guards that time I set a copy of _Sword & Shields_ on fire, no one's gonna miss that book. I learned to manifest that dagger again, but that was still difficult as nothing in the library spoke of magic summoning weaponry. Maybe I could learn to summon a sword, I thought but without even holding a sword in my hand how would I know.

Also don't use Fade Step when you're sneaking, it leaves a bright blue aura that practically tells everyone you're there.

I had snuck back to the alienage and even my house that morning luckily, without anyone noticing me…well…

"Harel, what are you doing sneaking out again?! You don't want the guards to catch you" yelled my Mother,

"Buuut Muum~ I got some good books this time. I should be able to make that fire magic right this time to help you cook, bring in the money"

"I told you son, I do that for the Alienage. Not for Money" She was always a kind woman, as she came down to me and held my hands together "And no magic son, or you'll cause trouble with the Shem's Templars, you're just lucky the Alienage hates Shems more than you"

"They don't see me, I'm really careful" I told her, before muttering to myself "…careful enough to sneak into the castle every night"

"I knew it! I told you not to go to the castle again!" She yelled, he voice still full of caring "…I wish I could give you all the books you wanted son, but we can't have them. You'll get the whole alienage in trouble if they catch you"

"…well I will make sure they don't catch me" as I walked out of the house in a huff.

It was a while later, my temperament was never so high with my mother that I lost control when angry, the books always said beware of Rage Demons and the threat they could enter your mind. And so I slept, I took a sleep under that pitiful tree standing in the middle of town, luckily having the alienage afraid of me they left me to my rest.

But it was not an easy sleep, the fade was connecting with me I would later learn. I saw visions, I always remember that first one. Knight legions of Knights, no… Elves, an army, a commander, Blazing fire, roaring rain interlaced with music, a bald elf, a mirror broken, no formed all around us, a black dragon, the archdemon I heard so much about, another person standing before it, a glowing sword like my dagger…he…notices me, he reaches out his hand, I'm falling as he falls with me, fear, courage, stand and as I stand the falling stops, the man stands before me again and I see the person strip away like fog. It is a spirit. I try to speak to it but my words are muffled, I can hear it trying to speak back but it too is muffled, all I make out is one word. Imagine.

I jumped awake in a sweat, as I woke startled I quickly surveyed my surroundings to find a Templar on horseback talking to the elves round the village, I instinctively jumped behind the tree, such a pathetic hiding place I found as I ran back home quickly.

"Mum, MUM!" I yelled in a panic "Templars, Templars they're here!"

But Mum wasn't home, Mum had told me horror stories about the Templars, and about some of the awful treatment they put Mages through. I remember thinking, why? I hadn't done anything, stupid trouble making mages why did they have to do that and ruin my life. How foolish I was. It became dark and time had passed so quickly while I was hiding under the stairs, I wasn't going to go to the castle tonight, not with Templars around, and even my mum returned home late.

"Harel? Harel?! You Home?" she called for me hopefully

"MUM!" I rushed to her quickly and hugged her stomach "The Templars…were here…I saw them…"

"Templars? I didn't see any" She responded curiously

And with a touch of fate, at that moment there was a loud hearty knock at the door.

"All Alienage Citizen's must exit their houses and report to the centre immediately" The voices ordered as they banged and repeated the order across all the houses.

With a lump in my throat, and clutching my Mum's clothes tightly we both walked carefully and gingerly out to the alienage.

"Ummm…Hello there everyone" said a nervous but friendly voice "I'm sorry to disturb you all so late but we have a problem"

It was King Alistair, I had never minded King Alistair and that was rare for Shems. He was always seemingly nice and I had heard how all the alienages had improved standard since Alistair became king. I would have breathed a sigh of relief, if not for the fact he was likely here to bust me for my braking into his library and the fact that he was a former Templar didn't help.

"…there has been an unfortunate break in…" I held my breath and hid behind my mother "in this alienage"

What? I thought, he's not here for me. Wait again? Someone broke into the alienage?

"What about the things you promised us? When can we leave this accursed slum? Aren't we Denerim Citizens now?" Yelled older voices from the crowd

"Look…it's big…messy ball… of… things" Alistair struggled to explain "we're trying to expand the city to accommodate you all and quell the people enough to accept it…but that's not why I'm here"

I'd read stories about Alistair and the Hero in the books, he never seemed the kind of man to want power, it had seemed to make him honest. An honest man in power…among Shems, I must be mad.

"There…is a demon, in this Alienage" Alistair said with a suddenly stern face "We believe it's some form of Desire demon but we haven't been able to pin it down"

The voices of the alienage turned to panic behind, screaming Desire demon's do this and Desire demons do that. They need to read more I thought, Desire Demons rarely attack on mass, more working like a plague to spread decent amongst its followers. If they weren't so simple minded I thought, but even I didn't know everything.

Alistair gave his warning as he swept the alienage with some Templars he insisted he trusted so we could as well, luckily our Alienage barely trust Shems as it is and that I'm not the only mage in the alienage or I felt they would have ratted me out then and there.

For the next couple of days, I could feel everyone's eyes on me, the only eyes I cared about were my mothers and they were still full of love as always. But what I didn't know at the time, was that it was my fault and the Orange light that followed behind me grew brighter every day.


	2. Chapter 2: What I Got

Chapter 2: What I Got

Desire wasn't the word. It wasn't Desire at least I could feel as I walked around the Alienage day after day looking for the creature, everyone's eyes were so fixated on me it made it hard to leave not to mention sneak into the castle to have a quick read. I thought with my mage powers, along with some books I read about Templar techniques and even a journal with notes about Seekers I found hidden in the stacks, that I could locate and trap the demon myself, then maybe Alistair would let me use his library permanently as a reward.

I was chasing my tail for days, I could see the orange light following me which I followed thinking it would lead me to the demon but the light followed me so I was going nowhere fast. That was until the light grew large enough that it followed me into a corner late in the evening and finally revealed itself.

Bursting from the light, a bright humanoid orange spirit fell forth, a beautiful woman, the light it was invigorating, I felt powerful. But that was odd I thought, wouldn't a Desire Demon want to weaken my will to follow its own, as I had read.

"You're not a Desire Demon are you?" I took a chance

"Desire? Oh what fanciful things the real world imagines" Said the spirit rather light heartedly "For that is what I am, Imagination"

"An…Imagination…Spirit?" I stood in awe "I've never read about such things"

"But you imagined there might be" It cheerily said "You imagining the stories of far away, that are long gone, of what your life could be, of what your magic might hold…that has what pulled me through the fade"

"Me…Spirit?" I was humbled "But I just wanted to learn"

"Great Wisdom leads to Greater Imagination" declared the Spirit "I sense songs of ages past, left on you feelings I have not felt since the birth of the fade itself, it was a catalyst or so I imagine"

"Ages past?" I was confused "I don't know what you mean spirit"

"On some level you can Imagine" it chuckled as it started hovering towards me

My eyes were open wide, I was happy, terrified, curious, alert and my mind rushing with ideas, with imagination as the spirit put it. Then before I knew it, the spirit lay its hands on me and I was rushed with energy, power, imagination but I knew I couldn't control it. I began to panic, the spirit was overwhelming me and I was overwhelming it. Think Mordred, think. The Tranquil don't seem to offend spirits, at least according to my reading and the Templar/Seeker text said something about remaining emotionless to deal with spirits. So I did the only thing I could think of, I cleared my mind, I discharged all my Mana into the ground and emptied my mind as much as I could.

I felt the greatest rush I had ever felt in my life, Ideas, so many ideas never possible to me became as natural to me as breathing. The World, the Ideas, as One. Many beautiful ideas.

The feeling past, the spirit disappeared and I was left glowing, my eyes glowing orange as the spirits presence vanished in a gust of wind. What just happened here, not even I could imagine. I looked at my hands, I could feel raw surging power, I could make that sword in my hand now and I know I could.

An all to brief high as I saw a elven woman fear struck at the end of the alley, No I thought, please don't say she had seen all that just happened but as the shock hit her and before I had a moment to tell her to stop I heard her scream from the top of her lungs.

"AAAAAABOMINATION! AAAAAABOMINATION!

She ran out into the street in a panic, frantically telling everyone who would listen stories of a desire demon, me a little boy and being possessed.

I ran out, hoping I could convince someone of the opposite but it was too soon, they could see the glint of orange still resonating in my eye, my eyes became permanently orange from that day forth and every word I said fell on deaf ears, screaming out for them to understand me but all I could see was anger and fear. I fell to my knees and wept, I knew they were going to kill me with the largest alienage men coming towards me with cheap swords and bludgeons.

"NO, don't hurt my son!" My Mother screamed as she pushed people aside and hugged me to her chest "Are you okay? Have they hurt you? Get away you animals!"

All I heard was my Mum yelling as the villagers tried to forcefully pull her away, I was lost in my own despair. Dark thoughts rushed my mind, what if I really am possessed? That spirit could have been lying, I'm not remarkable so why would a spirit of imagination choose me?

In the midst of my dark thoughts, the villagers became worse, more enraged, more outlandish and the only thing holding them back was my wonderful mother. Of course the rage took them too far, a dagger came hurtling out of the air flying for either of us but strangely I sensed it, I could hear the rushing of air around the blade and it broke my thoughts like a stroke of lightning.

I sprung from the floor and from mid-air I pulled a glowing longsword, striking the soaring dagger with a clang of metal on metal and sent it flying back to the maddened crowd. I was fuming, breathing like a beast through my teeth, my eyes a glow orange and the bright ethereal sword clutched in my right hand.

"Get back. Now" I growled

My words again fell on deaf ears, but this time I could see the truth. There was a demon in this village, but not of Desire, one of Rage. An older man elf back of the crowd, eyes of red and my new eyes could see the spirit aura hovering around him. I knew I had to fight him, so I pushed through the crowd but they were too dense and too violent to let me past. I knew I couldn't get through, so I decided to go down swinging, what were these people…none of them were my friends, just cowardly elves that never even bothered to talk to me. I must strike, I must strike I thought.

No, I couldn't even with my power I couldn't hurt these people, I was a child and taking you're first life especially of those innocent should never be taken lightly as I was to find out later in life. So I just grabbed hold of my mum, I would save her somehow. Somehow.

Gripping tightly onto her gown the crowds closed in, the feeling of death growing all too closer but what could I do? I need to disappear, I thought and suddenly as I opened my eyes my being and my mother's began to shimmer, disappearing from this world yet we stayed. I had somehow pulled the veil wall over us, yet we still remained giving me a thought. I reached out to the crowd and as a frantic elf lunged out at us their blade swiftly passed through my hand. We could run, and pulling my stunned scared mother through the crowd we passed through unharmed as the shimmering began to stop.

It was too late though, we hadn't got far from the crowd by the time the effect wore off and they quickly rushed after us like a shambling horde, we weren't getting away after all.

"Need a hand?" said a cheeky voice as King Alistair pulled us both onto his horse.

"King…Alistair…" I was stunned unbelieving

"Mordred right? How do you like the library?" Alistair remarked as we galloped avoid the hordes through Denerim, the rage demon seemingly spreading through the entire city

"Uhh…what sir?" I was even more speechless than before

"I saw you coming through the gates every night, quite an enthusiastic mage aren't you?" he smiled "reminds me of him"

I was still speechless, tired and coming down from the fear from the horde while my mother passed out on the horse.

"Sorry about the trouble, I was never really good with Demons as a Templar" he chuckled as we nearly reached the gate "Better Templars than me will find the Mage responsible, and the city will be back to normal by dinner time"

"What…about us sir?" I struggled out

"I think it's time we get some fresh air, at least while the air here is…so angry" he grinned as we galloped out the city gates.

We galloped for a while, until we reached a hill overlooking Denerim. I'll always remember the fires, and the red aura that hovered over the town while Alistair laid my mother on the ground.

"It's not the worst that's ever happened, and the Templars should be able to deal with the citizen's without killing them once they find the Possessed Mage" he remarked with a smile "…I am sorry however for what's happened especially to you and your mother, Mordred.

He put his hands on my shoulder, as I let the ideas spin of everything that just happened to me with in mere moments it felt like.

"We can't go back, can we?" I asked the King

"…No, it's best you and your Mother don't" he replied sombrely "It may have been a demon but that'll never stop people fearing mages, and the rage it created won't easily go away"

"Good riddance to them, useless elves" I spat, seemingly disappointing the king "…where will we go?"

"The Dales!" The King said like having an epiphany "I have some friends in a nearby Dalish clan that should be able to take you in?"

I looked rather disappointed myself, which the king could easily sense when I had just cursed the other elves I had lived with.

"The Dales…are different son" The King kneeled sofly before me "They don't fear magic, they might even teach your more than you could of learned at my stuffy library"

I gave him a puzzling look, as to ask why he let me use his library even though he knew.

"You look so pleased studying in that library, who was I to take it away from you" He smiled "No one in the castle barely used it, and you reminded me of him…always inquisitive, always practicing"

"Then why not send me to a Circle?" I instantly thought

"Well firstly boy, you couldn't take your mother" he looked sympathetically "Secondly, the circle's probably not the safest place to be at the moment, things aren't going well in short"

I stayed quiet, I knew he was right but after the alienage more elves were not what I wanted to see especially when I heard circles provide books and years upon years of knowledge. Another reason I stupidly blamed the circle mages. Things are so black and white when you're young but soon I would be off on the kings horse and arriving at the Brecilian Forest, where I would meet Dalish elves in a meeting I never wanted but who would know that it may take several years but I would have the meeting that would change my life and finally set me on a quest that was several millennia in the making.


End file.
